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Egypt's President al Sisi moves to ban foreign publications seen as offensive to religion

The decree grants the Prime Minister the power to ban the re-publication and distribution of material produced abroad. This broadening of powers around censorship comes as Egypt's Grand Mufti expressed his disapproval about Charlie Hebdo's latest front cover.

The decree outlining the ban was published in the official State Journal yesterday, according to Al-Ahram, Egypt's largest daily.

This transfers certain presidential powers governing the press to the Prime Minister, in this case from a law decreed in the 1930s.

The ruling in question says that foreign publications can be banned in Egypt in order to "maintain order in society".